Toward space situational awareness: A space-based autonomous optical tracking method for space objects

Abstract

<p indent=0mm>Space-based optical (SBO) surveillance is one of the important means of space situational awareness. Traditional space-based observational platforms cannot operate autonomously because accurate ephemeris needs to be obtained before determining the states of the observed objects. In this article, the concept of autonomous space-based surveillance is proposed. A space-based optical observation platform can carry out space situational awareness (SSA) autonomously using the obtained angle-only measurements, even if an accureate ephemeris is unknown. In contrast to traditional space object tracking, the states of an observed space object can be determinted by only using the obtained angle-only measurements. In combination with long-arc observational data, an autonomous orbit improvement algorithm based on historical data is presented. The orbit of the original object can be improved by using historical observational data obtained by observing other space objects. Thus, a real-time autonomous tracking strategy with the assistance of additional measurements is presented, which can be performed by tracking multiple space objects using an observational satellite that has a payload of multiple SBO sensors. Finally, the proposed method was demonstrated by simulation cases. Compared with traditional object tracking, the estimation accuracy of autonomous tracking is worse but it will be similar when an observational satellite tracks two objects at the same time, especially if one of them operates in low earth orbit. This paper provides a feasible method for the development of an autonomous space-based SSA platform.